Another Soul's Eyes
by Solaris Prime
Summary: "This is your story now." I didn't get what Auron meant at first, but after going on a journey with a summoner, her gaurdians, and my brother, I realize that he meant I'd be in an amazing adventure. This is my story. Are you willing to listen?
1. Chapter 1

It's strange how this happened. I was looking at a picture a friend of mine shown me and I was amazed of how much this girl looked like Tidus. Then I thought, "I wonder what would happen if Tidus had a sister." It hit me, and hit me hard. With this, I make a new twist to the story of Final Fantasy X.

Disclaimer: I own no Final Fantasy property.

* * *

Final Fantasy X

Another Soul's Eyes

I still couldn't believe all this was happening. Leading a young woman about my age to her fate, and worse of all my brother falling in love with her made the matter all the more depressing. I missed the carefree days over in our Zanarkand where my brother made things interesting whenever we went out. Now, if we couldn't act quick enough, we'll lose one of my most close friends, not to mention what will happen to Tidus. Just listen to _my_ story, and maybe you'll understand.

"Jeena! Come on! I'm gonna be late for my game!" I heard my brother call from outside my door.

"Shut up, Tidus! I'm still getting dressed. If you're that anxious, go out and sign some autographs or something while your waiting. I'm not going to make you late." He could get on my nerves sometimes. If he loved blitz ball that much why didn't he marry himself to it?

"Fine. I'll meet you outside." I heard him leave, giving me some comfort about not hearing him nag at me.

I headed over to my bed, which had my clothes. I grabbed my green top, which only had one strap that rested on my right shoulder and left my left shoulder bare, and put it on, though still showing my stomach to a point, but I didn't mind. I grabbed my grey jeans and put them on, feeling looser than usual, but was still keeping itself up. I then went over to the mirror to check that my clothes were what I wanted, and it seemed to go with my green eyes perfectly. I made sure my blond hair was down on top, even though the rest of it was crazy as it went down to the bottom. Everyone seems to think I'm trying to imitate my brother with keeping my hair short and looking like his. I wished I could say it was the other way around, but I know that's not true. Also, I looked to see the reason why my jeans were somewhat looser. Apparently I lost half an inch or so around my waist line. I was already slim, but I guess the gymnastics was trying to take more off.

I made my way out to see my brother already among his fans. "Teach us how to blitz!" Three kids exclaimed as I was coming closer.

Tidus seemed to be surprised at this. "Hey, I got a game to play!"

"Then teach us after."

"Maybe, tonight... um... well..." He looked behind himself, as if someone was speaking to him, but I didn't see anyone. Was he just in thought? "I mean... tomorrow."

"Promise?"

"Promise!" The kids put down their balls and did a little gesture, my brother always telling me that it meant people were wishing you victory.

We started making our way to the stadium, Tidus feeling confident of what's to come. I just considered this another game, though the trophy had our old man's name on it. I didn't care much for him. Whenever he was around, mom seemed to make us second on her list.

"Hey, aren't you missing something?" Tidus asked when we were halfway to our destination.

"Huh?" I replied, not sure of what he was saying.

"Check your arm, neck and hair." I did as he said and as I did so, I noticed that wasn't wearing what I always do.

"Mom's things! Did I leave them back at home?!" I was panicking. I always had them on.

"Jeena, don't worry about it."

"What do you mean 'don't worry?' Of course I'm gonna worry! I never leave without them!"

"Jeena!" He pulled out several things from his pocket. "Here." I noticed the string and was relieved.

"Tidus," I sighed, "don't do that! You know how I am." I took the things and started putting them on. I tied a thick string on my right arm, wearing it like an armlet. My mom considered it a good luck charm passed down from her grandmother. I then put on the necklace that my mom always wore. The way I put it was having it around my neck several times, making it wrap around my neck and having the pendent at the bottom stay close, barely even swinging. The last thing was mom's old hair clip. I just clipped it on the side of my hair, the black coloring standing out from my blond hair.

"There, better?" I couldn't tell if his tone was mocking or caring.

"Yeah. Thank you."

"Okay. Now, I'll race ya."

"What?!" He didn't even give me time to speak, for he was already off. "Hey! Wait up!"

* * *

A small chapter, yes, I know, but... well... the next may be as well. However, things will get longer, I assure you.

But enough on length. As you can tell, Jeena is Tidus' sister. She's... well... I'll let you piece your own puzzle together to wonder what she's like. However, she's very edgey when it comes down to things that her and her brothers mom use to own.

The first chapter is more on the introduction side, so just wait for more.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, this wasn't as short as I thought it would be. Well, not much I can say beyond that, unless I want to spoil anything.

Disclaimer: I own no Final Fantasy property.

* * *

I was able to catch up with him after a while, finding him hiding from the entrance. Being the Abes star player gave him nearly all the blitz ball fans in Zanarkand, and the entrance was filled with them. I'm guessing he's waiting for back up.

"Why are you hiding, your highness?" I asked as I got up close.

"Mind helping me plow through these people?" he asked to counter.

"Excuse me?" I got in few crowds before and was able to push through, but not with someone else at my back.

"Just to get through here. I'll give you the best seat." Okay, now he was just trying to bribe me.

"You already had me at asking a favor," I said, sternly. "You know I hate bribes." I pulled him up and got him behind me. "When we get into the crowd, hold on."

The crowd started screaming as we came into view. People was already swarming toward us and that's when I felt my brother's hand grab my bare shoulder. By that time, I put my arm up and picked up the pace. I felt my brother being pulled, but he was able to quickly recover as we made our way past and into the stadium.

"Thank you, Jeena," he breathed after nearly being pulled in by a fan girl.

I gave him a quick jab in the arm. "Hey, what's a sister for?"

He was actually able to get a good seat for me, not that I would want to watch. I just went to see his games cause we were family. I didn't find much interest in it. What I did watch from this one was somewhat scary. The teams were strangely aggressive. I was starting to wonder how Tidus was fairing, that is until he tackled one member of the opposing team out of the sphere with a cocky look. My eyes didn't advert to it any more until the crowd started to grow silent. I looked up to see my brother starting to make his signature shot, but was cut off as buildings was heard falling in the distance. Then some shot was fired through the stadium, making it fall apart. The crowd was pushing me as they made an escape, but I was thinking about Tidus. Where was he? Did he make it back to the sphere in time to leave? I couldn't look back for others were pushing me forward.

As I hit the entrance, Tidus was lying on the ground. "Tidus!" I ran over to try and help. "Hey, are you alright?"

He pulled himself up before looking at me. "Yeah, just bruised a little. What happened?"

"You got me, but let's get out of here!"

"I'm with you." We started running, following the rest of the crowd. "Auron!"

I looked back to see the very same person. "What are you doing here?"

"I was waiting for you," he replied in a deep, calm tone.

"What are you talking about?" Auron didn't seem to pay us much mind for he started to walk off. We exchanged looks and started running after him.

We followed him to the road, but the more we ran, the more that devastation seemed to appear. Everyone was running in the other direction and I was starting to wonder why Auron would lead us toward the core of the problem. "What the...?"

I looked over at Tidus from the sudden outburst. "What?"

"Didn't you see him?"

"Who?"

"That boy. You didn't see?" I was starting to think he was losing it. "Hey! Wait!" Auron appeared in our sights and Tidus started after him. My confusion kept me from following for a second. "Hey, not this way!"

"Look!" I set my sights at some sphere out to the distance. It looked to have something inside it. "We called it 'Sin.'"

"'Sin'?" I repeated in question. What was Auron talking about? However, something else caught our attention. There was this thing that popped out of the side of a building, having some kind of pods spewing from it. Was this 'Sin's' doing?

"Jeena!" Tidus pulled me back as the pods was landing on the same road we were on. They started to open, looking like some strange insect. What the heck were they? My brother tried to fight them off, but the things retaliated and pushed him back.

"Take it." Auron put a sword in front of Tidus. It was red with silver lining around the bladed edge. As Tidus took it, Auron pulled him up and let go. My brother could barely keep it up for it started falling down, until he got his second hand around it. "Here." I looked over to see a couple of gloves thrown at me. As I caught them, they pulled me down. They were a lot heavier than they looked. The material was tough, but flexible and the knuckles were hardened with a type of metal. "There gifts from Jecht."

"Our old man?" Tidus asked in disbelief. He didn't put much thought into it, for he already started swinging the sword, making the bugs pull back. However, the weight of the sword pulled him back as well, making him land on his butt.

"I hope you know how to use it." I saw Auron pull out his own sword and I knew that the only way out now was the fight our way through. I put on the gloves, though feeling as if they weighed me down, and took a stance. "These ones don't matter. We cut through!"

We started running, Tidus slicing one to push through them. A couple more took place and Auron tried to cut through another, but the one beside took it's place. I took my fist and pounded on the head, hearing the skull, if it had one, break into pieces. 'Dad actually found something useful,' I thought. As we made our way, more of those pods started coming down and forming more of these insects. They surrounded us and I was starting to worry.

"Don't bother going after all of them. Kill the ones that matter and run." Auron seemed experienced at this. We listened and cut out way through, well I smashed my way, leaving the others behind. Why weren't they following us?

As we got closer to the sphere, a type of pillar was in the rode. The things moving on top let me know it was alive. Suddenly, a strange push came down on my, like gravity increased, and it hurt. "Get out of my town!" My brother screamed at the pillar of tentacles.

"Some can't wait to die!" Auron exclaimed as he jumped in the air. He pointed his sword down and plunged it into the ground. Next thing I knew some aura emitted from him and explosions came to the insects surrounding the pillar and to the pillar itself. What was Auron? Was he still human? "Keep hitting it! It'll die eventually!"

I followed and started punching as hard as I could. I didn't even realize how much of an impact I was making until after something came over me and I jumped, swinging myself around and kicked the thing straight through. I looked up and noticed lights coming out of it. What was this thing?

Auron immediately ran past and kept going. What the heck was he trying to show us? That question alone made me follow him, but I didn't know about Tidus. "What are you laughing at, old man?" I looked at him to see him looking at a screen with our dad's face on it. He probably hated him more than I did. "Auron! Let's get out of here!"

"We're expected."

I was getting more confused by the second. "Huh?" He didn't even look at me. He just kept running.

"Give me a break, man!" Tidus exclaimed as we followed.

More pods rained down in front of us, as well as behind us. "More?" I asked to the wind, looking at the sea of monsters that was before us. How are we supposed to make our way now? We started to try and push our way through, but each one we kill, another took it's place.

"Hmph. This could be bad," I heard Auron say and looked to find him looking around. His eyes then set on a fuel tank hanging on the edge of the bridge. "That! Knock it down!"

"What?!" Tidus and I both screamed.

"Trust me. You'll see." I still didn't find it a smart idea, but I trusted Auron. When I got the chance, I ran over and started messing with the connection, making the electric link break and had the fuel fall below.

"Brace yourself!" I called just an explosion took place from the fuel tank and destroyed the supports for the bridge in front of us. The monsters that were on there vanished from sight as the road started to fall.

"Go!" Auron said, calmly. I wasn't sure what to do, so I listened and jumped, running across the falling bridge. Auron was the first to jump on to the other and things seemed to be getting higher. I jumped, using what power I could from my body was just barely able to grab on to the edge of the other piece of road.

"Auron!" Tidus yelled as we both were trying to pull ourselves up. Auron appeared over our heads and looked at us.

"Auron!" I yelled just as the bridge felt to start lifting up. Auron then looked up at the sphere, now seeming more organic.

"You are sure?" Okay, now he was talking to it? I pulled myself up to the point where I could get my arms on the road. I looked up to see Auron reaching down. "This is it." He grabbed my by the strap of my top and Tidus by his jacket and pulled us up, feeling as though without effort for it felt like I was floating some. "This is your story." Things were getting brighter by the second. "It all begins here." With that, Auron looked as if he was being stretched into the sphere. After a second, I felt no different. I was getting scarred, started panicking, then I felt... sleepy.

* * *

And now the _real_ story begins. I'm getting hyped up writing this. I hope the readers here are enjoying it as well.


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, now there's not too much to this one. I just wanted to either get to the highlights, or to the point where Jeena would get knocked out. You'll see what happens in the end. Oh! And you'll be surprised what's at the end of this.

Disclaimer: I own no Final Fantasy property.

* * *

I woke up freezing, just lying on a stone floor. I wasn't sure how I got here. The only thing I remember after being sucked into that strange thing was feeling sleepy. What was it exactly? Auron seemed to know what was going on, but I was too scarred and confused to ask. I heard something clacking, like flint was being pounded together. I looked over to see Tidus doing just that, making a campfire with some remains of one. As the sparks started one, lightning and thunder cracked at once, making me gasp.

"Jeena!" He ran over to where I was while I pulled myself into a sitting position. "Are you alright?"

"Just a little light headed," I answered, "and freezing." I was surprised I didn't freeze to death while I was asleep. It felt like a freezer in that building.

"Well, here. Let's get you closer to the fire." He helped me up and walked me over to the small fire. Just the though of heat alone warmed me, it was so cold.

We sat there for a while, trying to warm ourselves with the fire that we had. After a while, I could hear something growling. It made me look around like something was watching us, but then a second growl came and I could pinpoint the location. "Hungry, Tidus?" I asked, smiling.

"Yeah," he replied and let himself fall back. "Need food." I could understand. I don't know how long I was asleep, plus I didn't eat anything before the blitz ball game over in Zanarkand. However, just as I thought that, my stomach started. "You too?"

I could feel myself blush. "Well, yeah." Nothing was said after that. After a while, I felt myself drift off. I guess I was in a light sleep, because my brother's gasp woke me.

"Hey! Wait, wait! Don't go out on me!" He got down to it and started blowing, trying to get the fire started again. "Just hold on. I'll get more wood!"

He got up and I joined him, about to look around for any wood, but something caught my senses. I felt like we were being watched. I looked around and noticed some strange creature staring us down, and it looked hungry.

"Tidus..." My voice was shaking as fear was building up. I could feel my heart beating against my chest. The creature then started running around the place, keeping it's eyes on us. As it hit a support, it lunged itself toward us, landing on all fours and shaking the ground.

"Jeena, find some way around," My brother ordered.

"With that type of speed? I couldn't even take a step away!"

"Alright then. Get behind me." Tidus took hold of his sword and stood firm.

"You're going to fight it?!" I asked, my voice in a high pitch. He didn't even listen as he went in head first. Watching him barely making it by each strike was scaring me. I decided not to just stand their like a scared child and headed in myself. As Tidus jumped back I came in and punched it's side, surprising it and knocking it over a few feat.

"How did you do that?" I could tell he was surprised.

"Didn't I tell you that these gloves have weight?"

This went on for a minute, then an explosion came from one of the locked doors and some men came in with guns at the ready. I was a little shocked at this, wondering what they were doing here. Then there was this one girl, wearing some strange suit coming out from the line of people. She adjusted her glove, stepped up and took a stance.

"You on our side? Cool!" I was glad to have someone else helping us as well. The one thing I didn't expect was a grenade to be thrown. I ducked and heard a sickening screech. As I looked back up, the monster disappeared in a flurry of lights. Same thing happened with the pillar back at home.

"Whew! That was close." I was going to say 'thanks' after Tidus said what he did, but the other people that were with the girl surrounded us and got us by the hair. "Hey! Let me go!" They immediately had their guns pointed.

"Hey! What did we do?" I asked, panicking again.

"Fryd ec drec?" One of them talked in a strange language that I never heard of.

"Dfu Fiends!" Another exclaimed. "Eh risyh teckiecac! Oac! Ed ec cu!"

"Lyh fa gemm dras?" One said and they put knives to our necks. That killed any trust I had for them.

"Fyed!" the girl exclaimed. "Fryd ev drao yna risyh?"

"Drao yna dra cysa eh taydr."

"E vunpet ed! Fa pnehk dras fedr ic." She then walked up and got strangely close to Tidus. I was starting to wonder what she was doing. "Cunno." With that, I heard something hit flesh and Tidus doubled over and fell to the floor.

As the knife at my neck was removed, I went down to Tidus. "Tidus! Tidus!!" I wanted to know what she did to him. What gives her the right to do what she did?

"Pylg uvv!" I heard one of the mean order, but I didn't have time to look at him for something hit me in the back of the head, making me see stars and then, darkness.

* * *

In case you're wondering, I found an Al Bhed translator online which helped me make the bit at the end. I may use it later.


	4. Chapter 4

Okay. I'm clearing this up from the start. Tidus was punched in the gut and that knocked him out, but Jeena was knocked in the head. The area of impact can determine the amount of time one is out, and according to what I found, a blow to the head lasts longer. So if anyone has questions about how it started where it did, here's your answer.

Discalimer: I own no Final Fantasy property.

* * *

"Hey, I helped out, didn't I?" I heard my brother speak as I finally came to. I picked myself up and looked around. I noticed that we weren't in that building anymore. The motion of the metal floor and the sound of water alone made me realize that we were on a ship. What the heck happened while I was out?

"Tidus," I called, getting his attention.

"Jeena!" He ran over to the side of the ship I was on. "Are you okay?"

I couldn't help but smile some. "You're asking me that question a lot lately."

"Am I? Should I stop?" His humor always got me in a good mood.

"No, no. It's just strange, but what's stranger is the fact that I don't know where I am."

"Oh, those guys took us to their ship."

"You mean the ones that tried to kill us?" I could feel my anger building.

"Almost, but I think that girl kept them."

"The one that hit you? If she shows her face around me then, so help me." I adjusted the glove that was on my hand.

"Whoa! Hold on there." As he spoke, he lowered my fist. "Let's just see how this plays out."

I don't know how long it was. It felt like an hour since the conversation. I was in a half sleep daze, but my hunger was keeping me awake. "Uhh... hungry." Apparently the lack of food was getting to him, too. Not even a few seconds later, I heard some footsteps. I didn't react until I heard Tidus gasp real quick. I looked over and saw that girl again, this time having a couple trays of food in each hand.

She placed one in front of Tidus, him getting wide eyed. "Whoa! Right on!"

She passed him and gave me the second tray. I wasn't sure what to do, considering that I still wanted to confront her about hitting my brother, but her being nice enough to give me food kept me from any sudden action. "Uh... thanks?"

She nodded and I found a small smile on her face. I just kept looking at her. If she was this nice, why did she hit Tidus the way that she did? However, my eyes adverted as I heard someone choking. Obviously, Tidus was eating too fast. He grabbed a canteen that the girl had on her and started drinking from it. That's what he gets for rushing.

"It's 'cause you eat too fast." She speaks?! I thought everyone on this ship only spoke that strange language. The first thing I understood her saying was something we could agree on. Tidus put down his tray and started walking around, stretching, and all that. "Hey!"

He turned as she spoke. "Hello there. What is your name?"

She was silent at first, until she answered, "Rikku."

"Whoa! You really do understand!" He started jumping some and laughing. Was he water logged? Did Tidus fall overboard while I was out? "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"I didn't get a chance to! Everyone thought oui were fiends." Rikku then motioned the knives to the throat.

But, wait a second, what did she say? "Uh, excuse me," I came in. "We?"

"Oh, oui means you."

That took a moment for me to comprehend. I was guessing she was using their tongue. "Uh... Who are you guys, anyway?" Tidus asked.

"We're Al Bhed. Can't you tell?" Nothing was clicking in my mind. "Wait, you two aren't Al Bhed haters, are you?"

"We don't even know what an Al Bhed is," Tidus mentioned.

"I might have been," I added, "if you didn't come along."

"Well, thanks to brighten up your view," Rikku smiled. "Were are you from?"

"Zanarkand," Tidus answered. Rikku's face looked completely confused. "I'm a blitzball player. Star player of the Zanarkand Abes!" Rikku's face still didn't change.

"Did you, hit your head or something?"

"Um, you guys hit me." That was true even on my case... I think.

"Oh, right... Anything before that?"

"Rikku," I came in, "I would tell you the exact same thing. Well, not the blitzball part."

"Are you sure?"

I let Tidus tell her what there was to know about Zanarkand. About life there, blitzball, and Sin's attack. He even told her about the light that Tidus, Auron and I was engulfed in. He sounded to just say things that came to mind. However, this didn't seem to help Rikku's case. She seemed more confused by the minute, if not worried.

"Did I say something funny?" Tidus asked.

"You were near Sin." She sounded to be surprised. "Don't worry. You'll be better in no time. They say your head gets funny when Sin is near. Maybe you just had some kind of dream?"

What the heck was she talking about? "You mean we're sick?!" I asked in total disbelief.

"Because of Sin's toxin, yeah."

"You sure?" Tidus added.

"Yeah, there is no Zanarkand anymore. Sin destroyed it a thousand years ago. So... no one plays blitzball there."

What was she talking about? It couldn't be a thousand years ago! We were there when it happened! We couldn't have traveled through time, could we?

"Wait! What do you mean, a thousand years ago?" I demanded.

"We saw Sin attack Zanarkand!" Tidus mentioned. "You're saying that happened a thousand years ago? No way!"

It took a minute for things to settle down. Silence was among the ship, if you didn't count the engine and waves. If it really was a thousand years ago, then where could we go now?

"You said... you play blitzball?" Rikku asked after a while.

"Well, I do," Tidus answered. "Jeena doesn't."

"You're brother and sister, right?" I nodded as she looked at me. "You know, you should go to Luca. Someone might know who you are, or you two might find someone you recognize."

"Luca?" My brother and I repeated. Rikku just sighed. Apparently she though it was still the toxin. I couldn't say it wasn't, cause it would just make the situation worse. Rikku pushed herself from the rails and started walking around. Was she planing something?

She dashed over and tapped Tidus on the shoulder to get his attention, but she already had mine. "Okay, leave it to me! I'll get you to Luca, promise!" Neither of us said anything. "You'd rather stay here?"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Okay, I'll go tell the others. Wait here." She started off, but stopped suddenly. "Oh, and one thing." She turned. "Don't tell anyone you're from Zanarkand, okay? Yevon says it's a holy place. You might upset someone."

"Understood," I said.

She just smiled. "You're a quick learner, Jeena."

We've been sitting around the ship for some time. None of what I heard made sense. Our Zanarkand, a holy place? Getting thrown a thousand years into the future? It seemed more like we were just taken to a far away place, like we could get back if we traveled far enough.

"No way!" Tidus exclaimed. I could tell he was frustrated.

"Tidus." He didn't seem to listen. What he did do was turn and kick some metal behind him. After that, the ship tilted and sent me and Tidus for a loop. "What the heck did you do?"

"Hey! I didn't do it!"

A couple of Al Bhed came out, and not even they could keep their balance. As we made our way to the side railing, a huge wave of water was coming. "Sin! Sin ec lusa!"

"Ihtan ic! Ihtan ic!"

I wasn't sure what they were saying, but it must've been about that wave. It disappeared a second, then came back up and rounded the ship. Water rained down and I could feel myself falling overboard, the water pulling me further and further in until I saw nothing but darkness.


	5. Chapter 5

A warning ahead of time. With Jeena being the one nearly always saying his name, Tidus may actually be called by his name by the others as well. If not in the actual conversations, then the ones on the side. Anyway, enough of my talking, BACK TO THE STORY!!

Disclaimer: I own no Final Fantasy property.

* * *

I woke up, feeling myself floating. I just thought it was light headed from the second ride of my life, until when I tried to get up, my face was then covered in water. As I noticed, I turned myself over and brought my head up, chocking from the water that suddenly tried to make it's way down my throat. I moved my hair from my face and then heard more splashing. I looked over to see my brother bringing his head up as well.

"Rikku! Jeena!" My brother screamed as he looked out to the sea.

"I'm right here," I said, grabbing his attention. Not for long, however, for next thing we knew, a ball hit him upside the head. I looked over to where the ball came from and saw a few men standing at the shore.

"Blitzball!" I looked back over at Tidus and noticed he had a blitzball in hand.

"Hey! You okay?" One of them called.

"Heeey!" Tidus called back. Apparently he already made a new friend. What I didn't expect was him going under, bringing himself under the ball, and jumping high in the air. I never saw his move up close, so now I was able to tell that he twisted himself, back flipped and kicked the ball to the men on shore. It traveled faster than I could set my eye on up close. The man at the shore must've thought so to, for as it came to him, he just barely dodged it.

"Did you have to show off?" I asked, smiling.

"Hey, you said as much yourself," he came back. "I might as well be married to blitzball."

I just rolled my eyes and swam forward to the shore. _Now_ where have we been thrown to? Apparently someplace nicer than that stone building we were in before, and with nice enough people to ask if we were alright.

By the time we made our way to shore, everyone started to gather around us. For some odd reason, I was feeling embarrassed. Maybe it was because I wasn't the center of attention? I got that idea when one of the taller men came up. His hair was red and standing up, the front of it longer than the rest. He wore a blue band across his head, and some arm accessory on his left arm. He wore what all the other people were wearing, some yellow suit that even went down to the legs, covering most of the blue pants they were wearing with it.

"You wanna try that move one more time?" the man asked, hesitating some as if from shyness. My brother was getting pumped up as he asked that. He did the move again, only this time he did it all on land. The shot tore through the water as it traveled. "You're no amateur. Who you play for?"

"The Zanarkand Abes!" Tidus answered right away. Suddenly there was murmuring throughout the group.

"What team you say, again?"

That's when I remembered what Rikku said. _"Don't tell anyone you're from Zanarkand."_ I decided to come in. "Sorry, he didn't mean to say that. You see, we got a little to close to, uh... Sin and our heads are a little... foggy like. So we're not exactly sure where we are."

"Or even where we came from," Tidus added.

"Ah, Sin's toxin got to ya," the man said. "But you're still alive. Praise be to Yevon!" The team did some type of gesture that looked familiar. "Alright, back to practice!" He called to the team and they followed. He then turned back to us. "I'm Wakka, coach and captain of the Besaid Aurochs, brudda."

While he shook my hand, I had to ask. "Brudda?"

"It's just somethin' I use." There was a sound of grumbling. Tidus nearly doubled over, holding his belly. "What? You hungry?"

That's when my stomach started again. "He's not the only one."

"Okay! Back to the village, I'll get you two somethin'!"

We followed him a small way, but I could feel something wrong with Tidus. "What is it?" I asked, silently.

"Something's going through my mind," he replied. "Do you trust Wakka?"

"Well, he seems nice enough. I do so far."

"'Ey, what'cha two talkin' about?"

I motioned Tidus to speak with a nudge. "It's true Zanarkand was destroyed, right? A thousand years ago? So it's just a big pile of rubble now, isn't it?"

"Long time ago," Wakka started, "there were a whole lot of cities in Spira. Big cities with machina- machines- to run 'em. People played all day, and let the machina do the work, and then, well, take a look." He pointed over to some old ruins of some building. "Sin came, and destroyed the machina cities, and Zanarkand along with 'em. Yeah, that was about a thousand years ago, just like you said. If you ask me, Sin's our punishment for letting things get out of hand. What gets me though... is we gotta suffer, 'cause of what some goofballs did way back when!"

"That's not right!" I exclaimed.

"I'm with ya, but, 'course we must always repent for our sins! That's important! It's just that, it's hard to keep at it sometimes, you know?" It was just like Rikku said as well. They couldn't both be lying. However, my train of thought was stopped as Wakka laughed suddenly. "But you from the Zanarkand Abes, that was a good one!" He said, getting Tidus by the neck. "Hey, I'm not saying the team never existed, ya? But you gotta figure, a team living in luxury like that'd be pretty soft, eh?"

It was nice that Wakka was trying to cheer us up, Tidus at the least. However, hearing the same story, possibly from different sides of the map, made me believe that it must've been true. Perhaps, if we found Sin again we could go back home. Well, until then I though we should live life as it was right now. No time like the present.

We followed Wakka to an intersection in the road. "Hey! It's this way!" He pointed to the right and followed. As we kept going there was nothing but a cliff with a lake below. His village was around here? It was a good scenery, though why would he bring us here?

"Whoa!" I looked to see Tidus falling into the water. Did he lose footing or something? My answer came as I felt something push me on the back, making me lose balance and fell into the cold water myself.

"What the?" I looked up and saw Wakka dive in too.

"What's the big idea?" Tidus asked in frustration.

We didn't receive much of an answer, other than a gesture to follow. We swam for some time. I didn't know when we'd arrive at where we were supposed to be. I was starting to think Wakka had us take the scenic route. To tell the truth, I didn't mind. A small swim in a lush area was pretty relaxing, if you count out some fish trying to nip at us.

"Lemme go!" I heard my brothers voice behind me and I looked to see him caught in Wakka's grip.

"Got a favor to ask ya," he said, still having Tidus in his grip. They looked like brothers in that scene.

"You want me on your team, right?" Wakka let go and Tidus sank in the water. I'm guessing from all the struggling.

"Do you play blitzball?" Wakka directed the question toward me.

"Me? No, Tidus is the one that plays, not me," I answered just as Tidus came back up. "Why?"

"Ah, his name's Tidus? What about you?"

"Jeena," Tidus answered for me.

"Well, I was thinking. A major blitz tournament's coming up. All the team's in Spira'll be there! It's so huge, I'm sure someone there'll recognize at least one of you!"

"That'd mostly be him," I murmured, rolling my eyes.

"Maybe so, Jeen," I guess Wakka heard me, "but you are brother and sister, right? It'll be fun! What do you say, huh? Come on, come on!"

"Sure thing," Tidus said as he submerged into the water. He didn't sound all that thrilled.

"Dude! Our team is gonna rock, eh?" Wakka sounded pumped.


	6. Chapter 6

"This is where I was born," Wakka said as he pointed down to a village at the bottom of a cliff. "I started blitz when I was five. I joined the Aurochs at thirteen... ten years ago."

"Ten years?" I repeated.

"Yeah, ten years, and we never won a game." I felt kinda bad for him. Ten years without a single win? "Well, after last years tournament, I quit. Time seemed right."

We followed him down the road as he kept talking. "So, after quitting, I got this new job, ya? But every time my mind wandered, I thought about the game."

"Ten years without a single win'll do that," Tidus commented.

Wakka shrugged his shoulders some. "My first match last year was my big chance, but something else was on my mind. I couldn't focus."

"Nice excuse."

"Tidus!" I yelled. I didn't find that right.

"It's alright, Jeena," Wakka assured me. "Tidus may be right."

He took his side? "Well, I just didn't find it very nice."

"So, you want to win the next tournament," Tidus said, most likely changing the subject. "Go out with a bang." Wakka turned to him and nodded. "So, what's our goal?"

"I don't care how we do," Wakka stated. "Long as we play our best. If we give it out all, I can walk away happy." I heard my brother sigh half way through it.

"No, no, no, no, no! If I say, 'What's our goal?' you say, 'Victory!'" Oh, no. Here he goes again. "When you play in a blitzball tournament, you play to win!"

"Victory? You serious?"

I couldn't help but keep looking back and forth between the two. Was the sport really worth this much to get hyped over? 'Boys,' I thought.

While walking down the road more, the two still kept talking about the game. I wished there was something that would pop up to change the subject. My wish came true as two men came by. "Ah, the ones from the sea," the taller one said.

"Be on guard," the other warned "There're fiends on the road today!"

"After surviving your run in with Sin, 'twould be a shame if something happened now." After that, they continued down to the village. Who were those two?

"Who were they?" Tidus spoke my question.

"Luzzu and Gatta, Crusaders," Wakka answered.

"Huh? Crews of what?"

"What? You forgot that, too?" That made me feel bad. Not knowing anything made me feel kind of small. "Hey, sorry. Don't worry about it. I'll help you out."

"Okay," I replied, trying to smile some to make him feel better.

"And in return, come tournament time, I'll make sure we take the cup!" Tidus mentioned.

"Cool!" Wakka sounded convinced. "About the Crusaders, you can ask them yourself. They've got a lodge in the village."

As we came up to the village, it looked smaller than at the top of the cliff. However, it gave me a sense of comfort. Must be a humble place to give me such a feeling. "Besaid Village." Wakka announced behind us.

"They got any food there?" Tidus asked, desperately.

"We'll get you something over there later." Wakka pointed to a tent at the right. "Take a look around first." I did just that. Again, it looked small, but humble. "Let's see... The Crusaders Lodge is over yonder." He pointed to the biggest tent in the area. "Luzzu and Gatta are usually there." We started to go separate ways, but then Wakka stopped. "Oh, right." He motioned us over. "Over here!"

"Huh? What's up?" Tidus asked as we followed yet again.

We went behind the wall of the village. "You do remember the prayer, right?"

"Prayer?" I couldn't hold that question in. "What prayer?"

"Aw man, that's like the basics of the basics. Alright, I'll show you." Wakka took a step back, stretched out his arms and then brought his hands to form a circle, bowing. "Go ahead, you try." Tidus and I tried to imitate as best as we could. I felt confident in mine. "Hey, not bad. Okay, now go present yourself to the temple summoner."

That when he finally left. I didn't really like the idea of being in a place alone, so I just stuck with Tidus. The first place we headed to was the lodge. I was guessing Tidus was wondering who Luzzu and Gatta was.

As we entered the tent, it felt like I came into an interrogation room, cause this was what I first heard. "Hey, you! You two were attacked by Sin, right? Recently, was it?" The smaller one did most of the questioning.

"I think so," Tidus answered.

"So, Sin can't be far, right? You two aren't hiding anything, are you?"

"Why would we?"

"If Sin is nearby," the other came in, "it'll attack the island for sure, but it hasn't. I wonder why?"

"Well, sorry. We really don't know anything." Tidus tried to get me to speak, but I just shook my head. Being questioned right off the bat didn't exactly make me feel welcome. "To tell the truth, we don't really know what the Crusaders are."

"You're kidding, right?" the smaller one snapped.

"Sin! The toxin!" The taller one said. "Gatta, tell them who we are!"

"Yes, sir!" Gatta stood up and placed his fist on his chest. "The Crusaders are sworn to battle Sin! We have chapters throughout Spira, accepting all who wish to join our struggle! The hero Mi'ihen formed the Crusaders eight hundred years ago as the Crimson Blades. Later, our ranks grew and we called ourselves the Crusaders. We've been fighting Sin ever since!"

"What, you've been fighting eight hundred years and you still haven't beat it?" Tidus questioned. That left Gatta speechless.

"Well, we've steered Sin away from towns many times!" I'm guessing Luzzu said. "And that's all we can do. Nobody's ever been able to defeat it. Our mission as Crusaders is to protect the temples, towns, villages, and people of Spira."

"So, then whose job is it to defeat Sin?" Tidus still questioned.

"Is Sin's toxin really this bad, sir?" Gatta asked Luzzu.

"It does seem rather bad..." Luzzu seemed to be in thought. "We could just tell you, but I think it better for you to try and remember. Go pray at the temple. Perhaps Yevon will help you regain your memory." As we started to exit, Luzzu called. "You there! Girl!" I turned to face him. "Sorry for the sudden questioning. I hope it didn't lessen your trust towards us." I just smiled and nodded, leaving the tent and following my brother.

I was starting to get tired, after all that has gone by. I looked over at the place Wakka pointed out before and started to go there. "Hey, where are you going?" Tidus called, stopping me in my tracks.

"I'm heading over to Wakka's," I answered. "I'm just tired and want to rest a bit."

"Oh, alright. I'm gonna check out the temple place and meet ya." He didn't even give me time to respond and left. I just shrugged my shoulders and went inside Wakka's tent, finding him sitting on the floor around a table.

"Hey there," he greeted, cheerfully. "The food's not ready yet, if that's what you're wondering."

"No, no, that's not it. I just wanted to rest for a while," I said.

"Where's your brother?"

"He headed for the temple. Is it okay if I relax a bit before I go myself?"

"Yeah, I think that's alright. The bed's right here if you want to take a nap."

I took the offer and laid myself on the bed. It didn't take long until I felt myself start drift off. The most I heard was someone come in, most likely my brother, but after that, I was out.


	7. Chapter 7

Whew! Long wait, I know. Sorry about that, but I've been enjoying the summer! You can't take it for granted, you know? Anyway, quick warning. If you already know who the characters look like then you can skip all the description about them. Especially Yuna's, cause considering she's my favorite character, I may have went overboard with it... heh. Well, they did so much to the characters that there's a lot to describe, so I guess it's not all my fault. Anyway, I'm rambling. Get to reading!!

Standard Disclaimer applies.

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"**But if he dies, you'll never be able to tell him how much you hate him."**

"**If he doesn't come back, we don't have to worry about him."**

"**Jeena? Now why do you hate him?"**

"**You don't listen when he's around."**

"**Jeen... you see this?"**

I woke up at that point. I guess because I was so young that I never remembered what happened after that. I did know that it was related to the pendant. I was never able to open the pendant attached to my mother necklace. However, I would've bet that she would have a picture of our dad in it.

As I pulled myself up from the bed, I noticed that no one was in. Tidus couldn't be found and Wakka was gone as well. "Guys?" I asked to the emptiness in the home. I got up from the bed and headed outside. I still didn't see either of them. Then I wondered of they were over at the temple, because that was the last place Tidus was at before, so maybe he dragged Wakka in there for questions.

"The precepts must be odeyed!" I heard a voice as I entered the temple.

"Like I care!" I knew that was my brother. I looked to the stairs on the other side to see Tidus climbing up and entering through a door.

I didn't like the fact of him slapping someone across the face, figuratively. "Tidus! Wait!!" I tried to stop him, but the door closed before my voice could travel to him. All the eyes that were in the temple adverted to me as I screamed. I sighed as I realized that it was too late to stop him. "He never listens."

"You know this boy?" I didn't even realize an old man coming up to me.

"Uh... yeah. He's my brother."

"Well, because of your brothers rash actions, he may excommunicate the summoner!" He made it sound like it was all my fault, but my anger of him comparing me to my brother rose.

"It's not my fault that he's rash!" I said, sternly. "He plays by his own rules! I had no part of it, so leave me out! If you didn't notice, I tried to stop him!"

The man stepped back from my outburst, but with understanding in his eyes. "Right. My apologies, young one. I had no say in judging you."

I walked past, trying to calm myself, and headed over to Wakka. "So, now what did he do?" I was guessing he was in shock from the scene, for he didn't even move. "Wakka? Hello?" I tried waving my hand in front of his face.

"Huh?" Wakka snapped out of his trance. "Oh, sorry, what was that?"

Obviously, he never watched something like that happen. "What happened with Tidus?"

"He went into the Cloister of Trails. However, doing that may keep the apprentice summoner from receiving the Aeon from the Fayth."

"Excuse me?" What the heck was he talking about? Trails, Aeon, Fayth, Summoner?

Wakka sighed, seemingly both physically and mentally. I didn't know being ignorant would be such a problem for others. "I'm surprised you still know your name. Both you and Tidus seemed to have forgotten everything."

If you asked me, knowing and remembering seemed to go hand and hand in this world. If I knew at least a small bit of what goes on here, I might not feel so small. Wakka started going up the stairs, which lead me asking a question. "Where are you going?"

"Finding a loop-hole." As he reached the top, he looked back at me. "You coming?"

The question threw me off guard. "Me?! If Tidus wasn't allowed in there, why should I?"

"Again, finding a loop-hole. You don't have too if you don't want."

"Oh no, I'm coming!"

"What are you doing?" I heard one of the priests calling either me, Wakka, or both.

"I'm going to check on the summoner, as her guardian," Wakka answered.

"And what of her?" the man asked again, referring to me.

"She wishes to be her guardian too. Ain't that right?"

I looked at Wakka to see his eyes adverted towards me. "Guardian?" I was lost at first, looking back and forth between the priest and Wakka, until it clicked. I most likely wouldn't be able to go in unless I was a 'Guardian.' "Oh, yes. Yes I do."

"Well, then you may proceed," The man came. "And try to get that boy to come to his senses before something drastic happens."

"Yes," Wakka answered as I said at the same time, "Right."

As we walked through the halls, areas of what seemed like puzzles where already cleared. Obviously, the trails in here was trails of the mind. Summoners looked like they needed to be trained in the head more than anything else, but was this the Summoner or Tidus the one who did this?

"Hey!" Wakka called as my brother came into our sights. "What's gotten into you?" He started to walk up, motioning me along with him. I trusted him, so I followed. As my eyes fell on Tidus, his face took the form of another emotion. Embarrassment? Guilt? Confusion? "Hey, it's okay," Wakka continued as we walked up to where Tidus was standing. "Only Summoners, apprentice summoners, and their guardians can enter here. It's a tradition. Very important."

"So what about you?" Tidus asked, sounding as if there was a loop-hole for him to go through himself.

"We're guardians."

It took a moment, but almost as soon as he turned his head, he looked back at both of us. "A guardian?"

As his eyes locked on me, I just threw up my hands. "Don't ask me!" I exclaimed. Not even I knew what was going on. I looked over at Wakka to see him finish a shrug, then the floor beneath us changed with some pattern in the middle. The center piece jerked, almost making me lose balance, and started to lower. Wakka didn't seem fazed a bit.

"Summoners go on a pilgrimage," Wakka continued, "to pray at every temple in Spira. Guardians protect them." As the lift came to a stop, I noticed another passageway leading to another room. "The guardians in there now..." He seemed unsure if we should press on or not. "One of them's got a short fuse, and who knows what the other's thinking. Well, now that we've come this far... might as well go all the way!"

We started through the small tunnel. Strangely, my heart started beating harder each step we took. Was it the fact that Wakka said there was someone with a short fuse in there? I was no different when it came to my brother or my mother's belongings, so why would I be? Maybe it was something else, like something telling me that once I went through, there was no turning back. Like I was going to be tied to what would happen after the fact and my choices would lead it to what kind of ending would happen. If so, I made my first choice, and I went ahead with them.

"What are you doing here?" A feminine voice came as we came into another room. "Didn't think we'd be able to handle it?" A woman on the other side of the room stood up. She was a bit taller than me, but about the same height of Tidus. Her skin was light, lighter than mine, and her hair was black and put up in a decorative fashion. Her dress was black with fur around the top, but only resting around her shoulders. One thing I noticed was that the front of her dress, from the waist down was completely covered with belts.

"No, it's uh... it's just..." Wakka seemed to be overpowered by her already. "See, I told you she get's mad easy," he whispered to us as the woman came closer. I looked over to see another person at the stairs across the room. Well, not exactly a person, but seemed to be a cross between a human, lion and rhino, considering he was upright and muscular like a man, had a face and tail near a lion, and had a remains of a horn on his forehead with white hair reaching behind his shorders. Top it off, he had blue fur covering his body. His attire was nothing that I seen, plus would be hard to explain.

"Is the summoner all right?" My brother asked as the woman stopped in front of us.

"Tidus," I whispered, nudging him in the back. However, it was too late, but as the woman looked at us, her eyes went wide suddenly, especially as she laid eyes on Tidus, like she saw him before.

"Who are you?" She slowly got the words from her mouth as she spoke.

I tried to begin explaining, but before I could speak, a sound came from the top of the stairs. It stole everyone's attention as some door opened to reveal someone coming out. I first noticed black shoes, following a long silk blue skirt reaching above their ankles. That alone made me realize it was a young woman. She had a yellow fabric wrapped around her stomach, from the waist to just below her chest, and tied in a bow behind her. The top seemed to be nothing more than a thick white fabric, being held back by being behind her neck, wrapped around covering only the front of her and was tucked into the yellow piece. Her arms was bare from the shoulder to the elbow, but her fore arms were covered with another fabric, the excess reaching to below the mid thigh when her arms were down. Her short brown hair covered her face, for she had her head turned, looking to catch her breath.

My jaw dropped as she started to walk forward. I didn't think a summoner would a young woman, much less be this beautiful. Temples seemed to be for the older people, to me. As she started to come down, it seemed exhaustion took hold of her and started falling. The room filled with our gasps, but ended as the blue creature I noticed before run up and catch her in the nick of time. It looked as if the summoner thanked it and stood up, flung her hair back, and looked up with a smile. "I've done it. I have become a summoner!"

* * *

Okay, the end may be the closest one can come to saying "too descriptive" without crossing the boundary of decency. Again, I don't look down on those who skip some of the descriptive parts of a story. I do it myself.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I must say, I am not very proud of this one. I believe I could've put more to it, but something held me back. Anyway, here is, what I think is, the lesser chapter.**

* * *

Walking back to the main entrance, a small crowd of people were waiting. I was guessing it was the summoners congratulation committee, or something like that. As we walked down, they all were doing that prayer that Wakka shown us before. Apparently, summoners were a big deal here.

As everyone was walking outside, I looked back to see my brother still on the steps, like he was in deep thought. "Tidus? You coming?"

He looked up suddenly and then laid his eyes on me. "I'll be there." I just shrugged my shoulders and pressed on.

As I walked out into the sunlight, everyone was gathering in the center of the village. By the time I made it halfway, Wakka looked behind himself to see me and called, "Jeena! Over here!" I started jogging and met the lined-up crowd. "Where's Tidus?"

"Tids? He's--" I looked behind myself as I spoke, stopping as Tidus came into my sight.

"Back there? Alright, I'll get him." He started walking backwards, stopping around where I was when he called me.

The woman in black sounded to mumble something, making me wonder. "Excuse me?"

"It was nothing related to you," she snapped, making me shut my mouth from there on out.

"What? Ow, ow, ow!" I knew that was Tidus, but by the time I looked to double check, Wakka came in with my brother's head in a head lock.

"Wait till you see this," Wakka told him.

"I-I can't see anything," he pleaded, finally getting out of Wakka's grip.

Wakka then made a gesture toward the young summoner. "Ready!"

She nodded. "Okay." She stepped a bit further out from the crowd before starting. She rose her staff and brought it down just in front of her. I didn't see the meaning of this at first, until she took some pose and glyphs came from under her, shooting four lights into the sky. By the time the clouds parted, I then saw the purpose of it. Some creature started to dive down to the earth, coming from behind the temple and flew by just above our heads. I never seen such a beast in my life. As it landed in front of the girl, it reminded me of a bird, but yet it wasn't. The way she petted it made it seem friendly enough.

People around me started cheering while Wakka and that woman went over and started talking. Tidus, however, looked surprised, but probably not as awestruck as I was. It was an amazing sight, but it scared me somewhat. There was something about it that made me feel strange, but I had no idea what it was. Maybe, that was what scared me... not knowing anything about it.

That night, there was a small celebration. Considering I didn't feel apart of it, I just sat by myself, away from most people. I was still struck by what happened before, but not as much. "Victory! Victory! Victory!" That rant made the night lose its peace. Sure, Tidus knew how to keep a team going, but a little silence wouldn't hurt anyone. I was able to bare it until they quit, but then my brother started to move.

"You heathen!" An old man yelled at Tidus.

"Stay away from the summoner!" By the time the elderly woman started to scold Tidus, I scrambled over behind him.

"You're a bad man!" Even the kid was pushing him away.

"Tidus," I nudged him and gained his attention, "maybe you should listen." I grabbed him by the arm and tried to pull him away, but then the young summoner stood up, stopping me.

"Lady Yuna, be careful," the elderly man warned.

"But it was really my fault to begin with," she replied, leaving the man speechless. She walked over, introducing herself right off the bat. "I'm Yuna. Thank you so much for your help earlier."

That alone made _me_ speechless. Help? Who helped? "Sorry about that," my brother replied. "Wasn't that... Wasn't I not supposed to... Guess I... kind of overreacted." He started scratching the back of his head. A little thing he did when he's a little embarrassed.

"Oh, no. I was... overconfident." I didn't see how she was a problem in this.

There was a small, uncomfortable silence between the three of us. However, instead of leaving, I decided to join in. "Um, we saw that aeon thing."

"Yeah, that's amazing!" my brother added.

"Really?" Yuna asked, getting excited all of a sudden. Apparently, she likes compliments like that. "Do you think I can become high summoner?"

"You're a summoner now," I stated, "aren't you?"

She tilted her head a small bit. "Yes."

"Then it's not to far away, if you ask me." I put a smile on my face, making it a sincere statement. A smile crossed Yuna's soon after.

"Thank you... um..."

"Call me Jeena. This is my brother," I pushed Tidus forward a step, "Tidus."

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Jeena, Tidus."

"Lady Yuna," a small kid appeared beside Yuna, "come play with me some more!" Yuna bent down a bit to the kid's level and nodded. As the kid left, she turned her attention back to us.

"So, tomorrow then."

"Tomorrow?" Both my brother and I repeated in question.

"We're going on the same boat, aren't we?" That's when I steeped aside some, seeing Yuna's eyes more focused on my brother.

"Oh, really?" Tidus asked.

"We can talk more." Now I knew for sure I wasn't a part of this conversation any longer. Tidus nodded as she turned and started back to the ones she was previously talking to, until she stopped and turned once more. "You can tell me more about Zanarkand." With that, she left us.

I found it strange talking to her. Why? I wouldn't know. What I did know was at that time, I was feeling pretty tired. As I turned to go over and talk to Wakka, I found him walking over. "Hey, Wakka, do you have any free beds?" I asked.

"Yeah, we do. We were able to save a couple of beds for you and your brudda." There he went with "brudda" stuff. "It's over there, where you met Luzzu and Gatta."

"Thank you." As I left, I heard Wakka and Tidus talking. I didn't pay any mind, though. I was tired and I didn't waste one minute of sleep.

I awoke the next day fully rested. I took my time getting out of bed, stretching my arms and legs real quick and making sure my hair was the way I left it last night. I looked beside me to see my brother still snoring away. Typical Tidus, if you ask me. He always lived by his own rules which, honestly, made me kind of jealous. I was always the one worrying over the more trivial matters, not being able to relax about a situation like my brother.

I went out to feel the morning sun and breathe in the crisp air. It actually felt nicer than my old home in Zanarkand. The wind was cool, the sun gave a comforting warmth, and the sky never looked more blue.

"Just get up?" I looked over to see Wakka and the dark haired woman in the center of the village. "Took you long enough."

"Well, sorry," I apologized and walked over to meet them. "Did you sleep well?"

"With everything else going on?" Wakka got that same smile that I've seen Tidus use before.

I just sighed. "You sound like my brother."

"And that's supposed to be a bad thing?" The woman asked.

"Lu!" Wakka silently exclaimed.

"I already have to put up with one," I explained, "and now him?" As I finished, I intended a quick slap on Wakka's chest, but when I swung my hand and it hit Wakka was pushed down to the ground.

"What the?" I was just as confused as Wakka. However, it became clear as I looked at my hand. I still had the gloves on. Why didn't I feel the weight?

"Oh! I'm sorry! I forgot I still had these on!" I immediately put them away, feeling the weight of them weigh down on my jeans. Good thing they were secure.

"What are those things?" He asked while getting up.

"Gloves. What do you think they were?" I heard a chuckle from the woman.

"In other words, what are they made of?" She rephrased the question.

"Well, miss… uh…"

"Lulu."

"Lulu? Okay. I'm Jeena, by the way. Anyway, the gloves are made of a heavy material, plus the metal knuckles make it the more dangerous."

"So you fight up close?" Wakka asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "If I need to."

"By the way, I got something for your brother." Wakka then pulled out a blue sword, reminding me of the blue waters surrounding Besaid. "You think he'll like it?"

I smiled at the thought, but I wasn't too sure. "I don't really know. I don't have his mind, so I can't tell you."

"Hey, Sleepyhead!" I looked back as Wakka called to see Tidus walking about. "Somethin' I wanna give you." He then gave the sword to Tidus.

"Whoa!" Apparently he did like it. "You're giving this to me?"

"Yeah. Use it well." Tidus then started testing it out, getting a good feel on it. I stepped back, making sure I wasn't in his way.

"That's the sword you gave Chappu," Lulu mentioned to Wakka.

"Yeah, well, he never used it." I started to wonder who this "Chappu" was. "Where's Yuna?"

"We're taking the same boat as Yuna, right?" Tidus asked. "Why do we gotta wait here?" Irritated, I slapped my brother upside the head. "Hey! What was that for?"

"Think!" I told him with a stern voice. "And just be glad I didn't have my glove on."

"What do you mean, "think?""

"Yuna came to this village ten years ago," Wakka explained, "when the last Calm started."

"The Calm?"

"Since then, she's been like a little sister to me and Lulu. But she had the talent. She became an apprentice. Now, today, she leaves as a Summoner."

"This is our journey," Lulu added. "We should leave together." What Lulu said was what I thought from the start. You don't just leave without the someone who's close to you. Just then, a sound of falling luggage caught my ears. I looked to the temple entrance to see Yuna with a large case. "You really don't need all that luggage!"

"Ah, they're not really my things," Yuna explained. "They're gifts for the temples we're to visit."

"This isn't a vacation, Yuna," Wakka stated.

"I guess… I guess you're right." She then left the case and walked up to us.

"Okay, off we go!" Wakka announced and everyone started walking, except me and Yuna. She turned and bowed toward the temple while I watched. She seemed kind of sad. I had to do something to try and cheer her up.

"It was a nice though," I whispered, getting a small smile from Yuna. Then we caught up with the others.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Long time, no see! I don't know how it happened, but I finally got a drive to work on this story again. Forgive me if things seem a little out of place. I've been working with third-person a lot recently, so shifting back into first-person took some time. I hope it paid off.**

**Standard disclaimer applies.**

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Things were pretty smooth as we headed up the hill. A few monsters, or "fiends" as Wakka and Lulu called them, came up but Tidus, Wakka, and Lulu made short work of them. I couldn't even have the chance to speak and say, 'Hey, can I give it a shot?' I was actually getting bored, and I guess Yuna noticed because she slowed her pace and walked beside me for a bit, starting a conversation in the process.

"Nothing's wrong, is it?" Yuna asked as I rested my hands behind my head. It was a little habit I started as a kid that I could never grow out of.

"Well, I'm not sure if you would call it wrong," I answered, "but I'm a little bored."

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone else was able to fight something. Not that I'm experienced or anything, but I would like to do something."

I heard Yuna giggle a little. "I think I may know what you're going through."

"Really? How's that?" Yuna gave me a blank stare, reminding me of Rikku and Wakka with their weird looks when Tidus and I said something strange or asked a question about Spira. "Is it something I should know?"

Yuna shook her head. "No, it's just… Never mind." Her tone had a hint of something in it. Fear? Worry? Regret? I couldn't exactly pinpoint it, but I didn't want to pry. Something told me to leave it alone. "By the way, I noticed you're not wearing those gloves."

The quick change of subject left me a bit dazed, but I then followed. "Oh, this?" I pulled out the right handed glove and held it up for Yuna to see.

"Yes."

"I just wear them when needed. They're my… weapon, in a way."

"The gloves are?"

I nodded. "They have a bit of weight on them. Want to feel?" I held it out for Yuna to grab hold. It felt lighter than when I first received them from Auron, but maybe because I'm used to the weight by now. As Yuna got a hold of it, I let go and her entire arm fell with the weight. However, she kept hold of the glove.

"Oh my! It's quite heavy." I couldn't help but smirk. "You weren't joking."

"I wasn't trying to." I stated as I took back the glove and put it on, just in case anything was to happen.

"How can you lift that?"

I shrugged. "Not that sure myself. I guess I'm stronger than I give myself credit for."

"Girls!" Wakka screamed. "Behind you!" I whirled around to see what caused Wakka to scream like he did and saw a deformed wolf lunging for me and Yuna in mid-air, only a foot away until it hit us. Seemingly out of instinct, I curled my right hand to a fist and swung it to the attacking fiend. It made contact on its neck and a loud crack followed as it deepened into the skin of the creature. A bit of saliva found its way to my face before the fiend changed direction, hit the ground, and rolled about a yard before stopping and disappearing in that same light show fashion.

It took a minute before I could get out of the sudden shock, but I was able to compose myself and wipe the spit off my face, as disgusting as it was. I looked back to see Wakka and Tidus with the mouths open and Lulu and Yuna with a surprised expression on their face. "Sorry about that." I said and received a smile from Yuna.

"There's nothing to be sorry about," Yuna stated, making me smile.

"You seem to hold more promise than I would have guessed," Lulu stated. I couldn't help but look at her. What "promise" is she talking about? "Anyway, the show's over. Let us continue."

I was still a little dazed at what she said. What does she see in me? I couldn't really put my finger on it, and Tidus getting me out of my train of thought didn't help either. "Jeena! Come on!"

"Coming!" I called back and jogged up the hill to meet them.

"Pretty good there, Sis," my brother said as he ruffled my hair a bit.

I waved him off and pushed down what hair he messed up. "Good? No, I wouldn't say that."

"You're too modest." I wasn't trying to be modest. I really had no idea what I was doing, honestly.

It didn't take much longer until we made it to the top of the hill. I ran ahead to the rope walls and looked down on the village we just left. Besaid looked small inside the place, but up here made it seem like some small insect. The only building that gave it any coverage was the temple alone.

I heard Yuna and Lulu walk up beside me but didn't take time to look at them. "Small village," I mumbled.

"Yes," I heard Yuna say, "but comfortable." Her voice had that tone again. However, this time I heard a bit of sadness. The temptation of speaking rose and it took a lot to hold myself back. I knew there was something in the air that asked for silence.

"Let's get going, man!" Apparently Tidus didn't think the same way.

"We're gonna wait." Wakka seemed to agree with me, though, but Yuna apparently was stirred to move as I heard feat shuffle.

"You don't have to leave yet," I whispered loud enough for her to hear. As I turned, she met my eyes and then tilted her head in a motion to say 'let's move on.' I nodded and followed.

"Are you ready?" Wakka asked as we neared. Yuna nodded and walked on. I stood beside my brother as Lulu walked up and exchanged a glance with Wakka, both nodding and following the summoner.

"What's going on?" Tidus asked and I had to resist the urge to knock him upside the head again.

"They are going on a journey, remember?" I asked wondering if any sense was left in him.

"Yeah. And?"

I rolled my eyes before walking. "We should _both_ know what it's like being away from home, Tidus."

We neared a statue with Wakka on his knees and his hands were in that 'prayer' circle he shown us before. "What's up?" I asked.

"It's an ancient custom," Wakka explained. "People leaving the island pray here for a safe trip." I looked at the statue closely, but I wasn't able to see the significance of the custom. "Chappu didn't pray that day. Said he'd miss his boat." That roused a question, but Wakka seemed busy. I looked around and saw everyone else do the same thing, except for my brother, who actually seemed to know what Wakka was talking about. So, out of curiosity, I decided to ask him.

"Tidus," I whispered. "Who's Chappu?"

"His brother," Tidus answered in the same volume, surprising me a bit. "He... died fighting Sin."

That shook me. After a couple seconds, I found myself making the same 'prayer' gesture out of fear. Maybe, just maybe, it would mean something in the long run.

"That should do it," Wakka announced and we moved forward.

Further down the road, there was an old ruin ahead with it's four pillars, or supports, drilled into the ground. Even if it was a city destroyed by Sin, I found it quiet inspiring for some reason. Tidus and I were ahead, enjoying the scenery, but our enjoyment was cut short as something quickly made it's way down from the ruins.

"Tidus!" I yelled as I noticed and we both jumped back in time to miss the creatures tackle. I focused after the event and noticed it was the same creature that I saw in the temple with Lulu and Yuna. What was it doing?

"I got this!" Tidus announced, pulling out his sword. The creature responded by pulling out a lance, telling me that battle was only option.

Unsure of the situation, I stepped back to let Tidus handle things. He lunged forward to give the first strike, but the creature was able to block him with its weapon and then tackled my brother, sending him to the ground. Without any hesitation, the creature jumped up a great height, positioning his lance to drill Tidus as it came down.

"Look out!" I screamed and Tidus was able to backflip in time to dodge the killing attack. In return, my brother decided to push back and tackled the creature, but it recovered and lunged itself at Tidus. He was still recovering from his attack, so my fear caused me to run into the battle and I swung my gloved hand into the creature's chest, knocking him to the side a good distance.

"Jeena?" I didn't look at my brother since I was more focused on the creature's next action. I thought I found surprise in its eyes when it looked at me, but that faded when he jumped again, trying the same trick.

"Launch me!" I ordered and jumped into Tidus who was able to make his hands a foothold and pushed me up as I jumped again, racing up to the creature and I sent an elbow into his gut before snatching his weapon and then using it's hilt to push him below me. I watched in the air as he plummeted down, but Tidus decided to add to it and jumped up to where he flipped and kicked the creature to add more force as it hit the ground.

I landed on my feet, kneeling with one hand as extra support. Looking up, the creature was able to stand straight as if nothing we did hurt him. "You must joking..." My brother said, exhaustion taking it's course.

"What is this thing?" I asked myself.

"That's enough!" Wakka called and the creature seemed to relax. I was completely confused when Wakka walked up and patted the creature on the back. "You want to give him his weapon back?"

"Uh..." The creature walked up to me and then put his hand out. His eyes wasn't as fierce as before. Actually, the seemed approving. "I guess..." I handed his lance back and he put it away while turning and walking ahead.

"What's with that guy?" Tidus asked in a stern tone.

"Kimahri Ronso, of the Ronso tribe," Lulu explained. "He's learned the fiends' way of fighting."

"That's not what I meant!"

"He's another of Yuna's guardians," Wakka added.

"He is?" I asked in disbelief.

Yuna laughed and walked up. "Sometimes we don't understand him either. Kimahri doesn't talk much anyway." I guess that explains the silent giant act. "But he has protected me since I was a child."

Tidus seemed to gain interest at the last part and I found myself smiling as I heard. If Kimahri had a protective nature, then that battle must've been nothing more than a test, and since thinking about his gaze at me now, I think I passed.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: It's been a while. Haven't updated this in a long time. We'll I won't keep ya that long. I just wanted to say here's another update and, of course...**

**Enjoy!**

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The road further down had a few more fiends waiting for us, but everyone was able to handle the situation easily. Yuna even called out her Aeon again, and it was a lot more beautiful than before. Perhaps knowing that it was tamed made me comfortable, but I wouldn't be able to say for certain that was it. However, we started to enter in familiar territory and I looked at Tidus. He nodded, that usual smile seemingly carved into his face. How he's able to stay calm and optimistic about almost everything is beyond me.

We made it to the beach, its scenery basically unchanged since Tidus and I met Wakka, but there was a load of people standing at a dock that I didn't notice before. Many were waving, giving a family atmosphere, but all eyes were focused on one person: Yuna. Some were smiling as we passed by them on the floating floor of the docks. Others had serious faces, but mostly out of respect. However, as we made our way unto the ship, I saw one boy running up, brushing past all of the people with tears filling his eyes. I looked at Yuna as she noticed him and she waved at him with a soft smile like as if she was saying, 'It's going to be all right.' But there was something else in her eyes. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was guilt.

Before we knew it, we shoved off and the island soon disappeared from sight. I made the front mast my seat and just watched the horizon. Honestly, I never have been on a moving boat before. I always thought I'd get seasickness within the first few minutes, but the experience itself was very relaxing. However, that soon left as I heard my brother cause a ruckus with a man holding binoculars. Obviously, Tidus wanted to be the toddler and use the piece of equipment for fun.

I turned away, slightly embarrassed, and tried to enter my little world again, but that was near futile when Yuna and Kimahri walked by. My eyes trailed to them and Yuna stopped, waving towards Tidus' direction. Not long after, a loud _clunk_ sound was made and the man before picked up his binoculars and gave Tidus a warning glare. I silently laughed as my brother just made an innocent face and scratched the back of his head.

"Having fun?" I turned once more to see Wakka standing beside of me, a slight smirk on his face.

I shrugged. "Well, kind of." As my eyes trailed, I noticed a large mass centering around Yuna up front. Tidus followed suit and started listening in. "What are they doing?"

"Wanting to talk to the Summoner, no doubt." Wakka's face suddenly showed amusement as he shook his head. "I told Yuna this was gonna happen."

"I guess Summoners are prime celebrities," I said with a giggle.

"Yeah. Especially Yuna. The daughter of High Summoner is quite a title."

Wakka caught my full attention at that last term. "High Summoner?"

"Hey, Wakka!" Right on cue, Tidus walks up and derails our conversation. I felt like punching him in the back, but then he asked, "Question: Is Yuna's father famous or something?"

A smirk appeared on the Captain's face as he glanced at me. I would guess he was thinking 'typical siblings.' "She's the daughter of High Summoner Braska. You saw his statue at the temple."

"Which statue?" I asked. Last I remembered, there were dozens of statues there.

"Remember that statue I was standing next to?" Thinking back, I did recall a tall statue symbolizing a robed man. "Well, that was Yuna's dad, Lord Braska." I gazed at Yuna's face for a second and then closed my eyes, comparing the two faces. Once I noticed the resemblance, I realized the two of us, I mean the three of us, had more in common than I thought. "He defeated Sin ten years ago. Yuna's the heir to a great legacy!"

"'A great legacy,' huh?" I repeated loud enough for those close enough to hear.

I heard Tidus sigh as he walked over and sat beside me. "It's tough when your father's famous, eh, Jeena?" I smiled at him and nodded, getting a confused look from Wakka.

"Wakka's… a bit lacking in the imagination department," Lulu stated suddenly, catching me by surprise.

"Thanks, Lulu," Tidus said through a laugh. "I'll keep that in mind."

When I caught on, I looked at Wakka again. To my amusement, he had an even deeper confused look on his face. I couldn't help but let a chuckle escape as I watched him, still puzzled by our words. However, although I felt like I should tell him what was going on, I thought it best to leave things alone for the moment.

Another couple of moments went by and the crowd soon dispersed, leaving no one but Yuna up front and the Aurochs on deck practicing. The ship kept moving along smoothly even as a tail wind caught the sails and sped us up slightly. It was all so peaceful and I leaned back against the mast, ready to take a quick nap, but then my brother moved and that peaceful feeling quickly left. I'm not sure why, but whenever Tidus moves, I seem to have this trigger that flips on as if it was saying 'Get ready for anything.'

However, he just went over to Yuna and started talking; making me feel kind of stupid for thinking he'd cause trouble again so quickly. So, I discarded that warning and relaxed once more, ready to _truly_ get some rest. I just let the rocking of the boat be my cradle as my senses dulled and I drifted off into slumber.

But it was short lived as something hit the boat and tilted it in a 45 degree angle. I couldn't grab on to anything and started tumbling down until I hit a… soft spot on the boat? Looking up, I noticed it was actually Wakka with his back up against the side.

"What happened?" I would normally say 'thank you,' but the sudden turn of events had me too shaken to be proper. "Did we hit something?"

"I don't know!" He yelled over the rushing waters. I tried to get off of him, but the ship suddenly changed tilt and I started tumbling again. Wakka was able to hold on to a wooden rail and reached out his free hand for me to grab, and I did with my gloved hand, making him cringe at the impact, and held on until the ship leveled itself.

Now I was officially seasick. Both Wakka and Lulu had to help me up after the entire event and even then I needed some extra support just for standing. I will admit, I felt like throwing up, but I held myself while we walked up to where Tidus, Yuna, and Kimahri were now standing. "You alright, Jeen?" my brother asked with concern on his face.

"Honestly, I'm feeling a little sick," I answered as I held my stomach. "Just tell me that's the last of it."

Right on cue as if to prove me wrong, something huge shot out of the water and scared everyone on, and probably off, deck. Once the water fell for us to see, a large, scaled fin towered above us. It wasn't mechanical, but entirely organic, and the man behind us yelled out its identity: "Sin!"

Sin quickly swam forward, its fin moving directly in front of us. Everyone around me seemed fixed on it, but uncertain of what to do. However, two men ran up, manning the harpoons on either side of the front part of the ship and aimed their sights directly to the gigantic fin.

"What do you think you're doing?" Wakka demanded, letting go of me and letting Lulu hold me up. "Stick a harpoon in him and we'll all get dragged under!"

"Sin is going for Kilika!" the first man answered. "We gotta distract it!"

"Our families are in Kilika!" the other man added before turning towards Yuna with a guilty face. "Forgive us, Lady Summoner!"

Yuna didn't say a thing. After a second, all she did was nod at the man, who returned the nod with gratitude. "Wait!" Wakka started to protest, but soon noticed it was too late to say any more. "Oh boy!"

The men launched the harpoons, one missing the target entirely. However, the second one dug in deep and in no time flat, the ship was pulled forward, now riding at the same speed Sin was traveling. The sudden jerk made me lose my support from Lulu as we split and I tried to find my balance. The ship kept swaying with Sin as he moved around the waves he was creating to shake us off. Before I knew it, a rush of water was taking over the ship and I looked around to find something to hold on to.

All I could find was the rope that acted as guards to keep from people falling into the see and I tried to reach for it, but I slipped and was caught with the wave. I fought as much as I could, trying to find something to grab onto in order to keep myself from falling overboard. By the time I did, the water left without me and my body didn't find a flat place to fall on. Instead, I was dangling off the side of the ship, only one arm keeping me from being lost at sea.

I kept trying to grab the ledge with my other hand, but the glove was on it and the added weight was keeping me from swinging all the way (not to mention the continuous shifting of the ship). I tried bringing the glove to my mouth to pry it off, but before I could even bring the leather to my chin, the fingers I was using to hold on to the ship slipped and I let out a scream as I noticed it happened. It was a sudden realization that I was falling to my possible death, and it felt completely different compared to what happened on Rikku's ship. I knew what was happening here, and there was no confusion about what was going on.

They say your life flashes before your eyes just before you die, but that wasn't the case for me. It was like time slowed to the point that every millimeter I fell was the distance of a mile. I just kept looking up, hoping that something, _anything_ would happen to bring me to safety. But then I noticed something peach colored. That color then turned to fingers, and those fingers connected to hands. They were somewhat small, slightly smaller than mine, and they reached down for me. I took hold of one and it gripped mine tightly, following the other to increase the hold. But the face I saw wasn't who I expected.

"Yuna?" I whispered, the waves tuning out the small volume.

Her face was ferociously serious, something that was totally surprising in the time that I've known her. Her arms were trembling, apparently trying to pull me up without anyone helping. "Come on!" Her soft voice was straining, which made _me_ concerned, and I quickly came up with a plan.

"Yuna!" I yelled loud enough for her to hear me. "Just keep holding on! I'm going to swing up!"

Her eyes were still as she nodded and I started moving back and forth, trying to find a rhythm with the ship. I was able to find one and then started gaining speed and height. Yuna's grip was slowly loosening, but I knew she'd keep her word. Not before long, I got up to the height needed to get my free arm over the side and took the chance, hooking it over without fail.

Yuna helped me over most of the way, but the final stretch had Tidus and Kimahri rush over and secure my safety. "Thank you… Yuna," I said in between gasps of air as I tried to get my breathing down.

"Don't worry about it," she replied through her own hard breathing, but better controlled than mine. "However," without any warning, she grabbed my gloved hand, jerked my weapon off, and swung it to Kimahri who caught it without that much trouble, "no more of those unless you're fighting. That's an order." Her face was still serious and her bi-colored eyes were deep with resolve. Looking at such eyes, there was only one thing I could say.

"Understood."

"Incoming!" Wakka yelled and everyone started scrambling once more. I got up as quickly as I could with Yuna and Kimahri's help just in time to see Sin's tail start crashing down into the water. Another large wave appeared and my heart sank, fearing of a repeat performance of my near death experience. However, this time Kimahri took both Yuna and I into his arms and held us in a protective manner. I was too frightened to even think of why he would do this for me, but I held on to him for dear life. If anything were to happen, I wanted it to end quickly… and it did.

The most that happened to the three of us was that we were wet, but secure on deck. Several waves of relief washed over me as Sin was no where to be seen and the waters started to calm. I would've started to laugh it off, but I was drained from the chain of events and felt ready to drop. However, then Yuna put her hand on my back and she closed her eyes. I suddenly started gaining my strength back, and rapidly. Looking at her again, she let out a deep breath and then returned the glance with a smile. Apparently, Summoners are meant to be healers. At least, that's what I gained from Yuna's gentle smile.

"Is everyone all right?" I heard Lulu's voice ask.

"I believe we're fine," Yuna answered, but when I looked around, I could not find Tidus.

"Where's my brother?" I asked and everyone started looking around. Then, at that moment, we heard someone gasping, but it wasn't on the ship. Wakka turned to the front and then jumped overboard with no warning. Yuna and I both gasped and started running after him, but the Ronso grabbed our arms.

"Let go!" I exclaimed while trying to fight his grip. "I need to save Tidus!"

"You're in no condition to save anyone at this moment," Lulu told me, but I didn't look at her.

"I don't care! He's the only family I have left!"

"So are you not the same to him?" I stopped, realizing she was right. When I looked at Lulu's face, it was stern and fixed, but almost motherly. "I understand how you feel, but if you charge into danger yourself, both of you have the chance to lose the last of your family. I know it's a step of faith, but trust Wakka to bring him back safely. Besides, I would imagine Tidus will be worried about you once he's on deck."

I looked down in shame after she finished. If I put myself in harms way, Tidus probably would get on my case for it. He may be obnoxious sometimes, but he does care about me a lot. The only problem is that I care about him too. However, I guess that's your typical brother-sister relationship.

"Hey!" Wakka's voice rang out from the side of the ship and we all ran over to see both him and my brother waving for someone to bring them up. I smiled as more relief washed over me and I saw a rope lower down for them. To be quiet honest, that was the most drama I have ever went through in my life, and I didn't want to go through much more.

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"What the…" As Kilika came into view with the setting sun, we all saw the place was destroyed. Homes were now pieces of driftwood and what was left of the port looked like rickety decoys. But the worst part was when belongings could be seen as we got closer. Obviously people died here, and it wasn't too long ago.

"I will defeat Sin…" Yuna declared while looking at the devastation with me on the front of the ship. "I must defeat Sin."

The carnage I both witnessed and experience with Sin was unreal. The more I thought back of home, the more I wanted to wake up from this nightmare. Sin was the one who brought me and Tidus here, right? Wouldn't he also be the one to send us back? However, there was something inside of me telling me otherwise. My home was out of reach and is nothing more than a fading memory. This was our new reality, and we were stuck with it for good.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: It's been a while. Not much of an excuse other than my writing has been put on the shelf for such a long time. However, I'm back, but no promises that I'll be updating regularly.**

**Standard disclaimer applies.**

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As the ship docked, I didn't have much enthusiasm to walk off. The atmosphere was so thick... So dark and disheartening. I kept looking out to the ocean, wondering how quickly Sin came here and how quickly he left. I hated it so much...

It wasn't until my brother found me that I broke my trance-like gaze, feeling his hand on my shoulder. "You know, we need to get off this boat," he told me, somewhat casual yet still with a hint of concern. So typical of him.

"Yeah... Okay." My voice reflected how I felt. I really didn't want to enter the town... at least what was left of it. Even then we needed to switch boats to head to our next destination, according to what I remember hearing. I just wanted the day to go by quickly.

I followed Tidus closely as we traversed the boardwalk of the town. I kept my head down, wanting to keep the sight of everything out of my head. I was so hurt... and so angry. How many people died this day? Were they going to have a funeral for them all? I never did like funerals. First one I went to was for my dad. The last one...

"Uh, what's a 'sending'?" Tidus' question made me raise my head, noticing he was talking to Lulu. "Are we going somewhere?"

Lulu had an astonished look on her face, borderline disgusted. She then looked at me, and I gave my best face of confusion and innocence, but it didn't seem to help. "You two truly are clueless." Needless to say, her words hurt. Her next words, though, hit even harder. "Are you sure it's just your memory that's the problem?" I bit my lip, trying not to lash out. I was in a dark atmosphere, angry at the tragedy, and the _last_ thing I needed was someone talking to me like that. "The dead need guidance."

Those last words caught my curiosity, though. As she continued, I listened closely. "Filled with grief over their own death, they refuse to face their fate. They yearn to live on, and resent those still alive. You see, they envy the living. And in time, that envy turns to anger, even hate. Should these souls remain in Spira, they become fiends that prey on the living."

"You mean those monsters we've been fighting are..." My words centered Lulu's attention on me. I didn't really have the courage to say it, but if what she said was true, then those monsters, called fiends, are actually human souls. We've been fighting humans that turn into monsters?

"Sad, isn't it?" Her question didn't really need to be answered, I knew. It actually made me think twice about what fiends I did kill when getting here. "Then sending takes them to the Farplane, where they may rest in peace."

"Summoners do this?" My brother's last question received a nod, making me look back a Yuna. She stepped out on to the water seemingly floating on top with each step she took. Looking down, I noticed the caskets of those who died, making me swallow hard. By the time she reached the middle of them, she started to... dance.

With each motion, those lights appeared. The same ones I saw back in Zanarkand, and the ones I saw when a fiend died. So, those lights are actually the souls of people? It hurt to watch, but I just couldn't look away. It wasn't until the flames around us burst into a blue color and the water underneath Yuna rose that my eyes started to wander. Just what kind of world was this? It felt so alien... and so sad. A woman not far off suddenly fell to her knees in tears, something I wanted to do myself, but my confusion kept it from coming out.

It got to a point where I couldn't watch anymore. I turned away and started briskly walking back to the dock. I was trying my best to hold back what tears were building up in my eyes, but then I ran into someone. "Hey, what's up with you?" I knew that voice. I looked up to see Wakka through my blurry vision. "Are... you okay, Jeen?"

Nothing came out of my mouth. Looking away, I just kept walking, brushing past Wakka who most likely had a confused look on his face. I probably looked like a fragile mess. A glass just one tap away from shattering into pieces. I reach the dock sooner than expected, but I didn't fall or anything. Being careful not to move the boardwalk any more than needed, I just sat down and stared at the water, looking at my reflection.

I don't know how long I sat there. An hour? Maybe two or three? I was too lost in thought to even care. Looking at my reflection, I kept thinking about Mom and how we looked similar. People always said back in Zanarkand that between my brother and I, I was the one with the looks closer to Mom. The only thing that I didn't have were her eyes. Actually, I didn't have Dad's _or_ Mom's eyes. His was brown and hers were blue. I had these green eyes since birth, so we all just assumed that my eyes were from somewhere down the family tree. Kind of a strange way to think of it, but still...

"You've been out here for a while." I finally snapped out of my trance thanks to that voice. I looked to the side in the water and found it was Yuna. Not only that, but the sky was really dark. Perhaps I was out longer than I expected.

"I guess," was my only response. I was still in a bit of a daze.

Yuna then sat beside me, making me wonder her intention. Well, knowing her in the short time that I have, I doubt it was anything negative. "I noticed you were gone after the sending."

So, she was paying attention to that? "I'm sorry if that was rude. Stuff like that... I just don't have the heart for it."

"No, it's okay. I actually find it as a good thing." That statement finally made me look up at her. "To see someone die, and watch their spirit just vanish... No one wants to see that. For you to be sensitive to that, it's nothing to be ashamed of."

I smiled at her, glad she was trying to cheer me up. "It's not that I was ashamed..." My lack of words seemed to spark some curiosity in Yuna's eyes. While I was having a hard time putting my feelings into words, she kept staring. It got to a point where I started to laugh. "Do you always stare while waiting?"

My question seemed to have hit a nerve, Yuna suddenly blushing and looking away. "I-I'm sorry. That was... kind of rude, wasn't it?"

Again, another laugh escaped me. "Not entirely. I just found it strange, that's all." Another moment of silence, but it gave me just enough time to find an explanation. "It mostly started because of my Mom."

"You're mother?"

I nodded. "It was when Tidus and I were kids. Mom was very sick at a certain point, and she wasn't getting any better. It didn't take long until she died from it."

"Oh... I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's not like it could have been helped. However, I couldn't hold my emotions at her funeral. I felt so... helpless. Looking at what happened tonight, it just brought up those memories." Another moment of silence came between us. I took in a long breath, getting a small chill as if my nerves were calming down thanks to that.

"You loved your mother, didn't you?" The question threw me off guard, but in hindsight, I probably should have seen it coming. After all, didn't I keep talking about her? Either way, I nodded in response. "What about... your father?"

"My dad?" My tone of voice hit the ground at the idea of thinking about _him._ I closed my eyes, trying to keep a hold of myself. "I could care less. Never really thought of him as a father, honestly."

"Tidus said the same thing." So the two of them went into a conversation about our dad? Must have been back on the ship when we left Besaid. "You know, I would love to see your home."

Okay, now that statement really threw me for a loop. "My home?"

"Zanarkand."

I suddenly felt nervous. Why was she bringing this up? I mean, no one else believed us, right? I decided to play dumb. "I'm sorry, but what are you saying?"

"Is that not where you and Tidus are from? A city all lit up at night, with Blitzball tournaments almost always being held in a grand stadium?" That description... I didn't say anything in response. Was she being genuine here or just entertaining the thought? "My father's guardian, Jecht, told me about it. He's your father too, isn't he?"

My body tensed as I made stern eye contact with her. Jecht? Her father's guardian? "Are you serious?" Yuna smiled and nodded, making me try to sort this out. Jecht... But according to everything back then, he died off the coast of Zanarkand, and his body was never... Actually, if what she says was true... plus the fact that both my brother and I were here, it would actually add up. Still, what were the odds?

It was then that Yuna's laugh pulled me out of my thoughts. "It's rather obvious that you and Tidus are siblings."

"Obvious? How so?"

"He had a similar look on his face when I brought this up to him on the ship." I smirked while looking away. Score one more for us being alike as opposed to being different. As Yuna stood, I looked at her via the water. The surface was rather still for it being a part of the ocean. "It's getting late. How about we get some sleep?"

I let out a small sigh. True, I was getting rather tired, and walking back with someone would be a lot more comforting than going by myself. So I stood, not taking into account of the stability the dock had now. "Yuna... Thank you." She gave me that same smile and nodded. I didn't know why, but there was just something about her that I could easily connect with. After all, I normally don't talk about my mother to just anyone.

It's like... talking to a younger sister.


End file.
